BUILD YOUR OWN BUNDLE & SAVE

Princesses Don't Sleep in Offices

We were living in Northern Virginia when I started My Heart Beats, and its office, studio and warehouse were all in the same room. It was the bonus room on the 2nd floor of our house. It was convenient and easy until we put the house on the market to prepare for our move to the West Coast.

We did this in 2012 when the real estate market was at the bottom. There were lots of foreclosures and short sales. On top of that, our house was custom and unique. It was a large house in a rural neighborhood without amenities or an HOA (one of the many reasons we loved it) not far from a gated country club community with all the bells and whistles. Most buyers wanted a more traditional neighborhood. We built the house thinking we'd live in it forever. But eventually our longing to be by the beach and desire for a slower-paced life lead us to the decision to move to Southern California.

So we have a unique house in a tough market, and we discovered quickly that buyers don't have much imagination. They saw an office/studio/warehouse and not what could be a large bedroom or bonus room or playroom. I wanted to move, and I was willing to put My Heart Beats on hold temporarily to achieve that goal. So I packed it all up, found a cute bedroom set on Craig's list and the office/studio/warehouse suddenly became the princess suite.

A long 12 months later, our house sold along with the princess' furniture.

In the meantime, I unexpectedly came across a small direct sales company with a product that helped people tell stories on their walls. I had been missing the direct sales world, and I signed up in the middle of October. By the end of the year, I earned a spot to attend the leadership conference and was #2 in sales for the year (like I said it small).

Shortly after the leadership conference, the corporate office offered me a contract to train and coach the field. So I had a dual role of being in the field and training the field, including my uplines. I loved it. I got to use my training as a special ed. teacher to work individually with women in group settings. I helped the field become a community and grow.

I treated the field like they were my personal team. And although everyone had at least one email address that was checked all throughout the day and social media was in full swing, I still wrote handwritten notes to everyone. Once again I wrote notes to customers and to hostesses. I wrote notes to my team, the women I coached and the women I shared the business opportunity with. It was one of my cornerstone business habits.